The anger which suddenly boiled inside him was something he found impossible to control. He switched off the light quickly, went out and climbed the iron fire escape to the landing above.

Nick Miller came awake to the sharp, insistent buzzing of the door bell. For a little while he lay there staring up at the ceiling, trying to collect his thoughts, then he threw back the blankets and swung his legs to the floor. He got to his feet, padded into the living-room, switching on a table lamp as he passed, and opened the front door.

Brady took in the black silk pyjamas with the Russian neck and gold buttons, the monogram on the pocket and then his eyes moved up to the face. It was handsome, even aristocratic with sharply pointed chin, high cheekbones and eyes so dark that all light died in them.

At any other time, those eyes would have given him pause, but the frustration and anger boiling inside had taken the sharp edge from his judgement.

‘You’re Miller?’ he said incredulously.

‘That’s right.’

‘Detective Constable Brady. You certainly took your own sweet time answering.’ Brady brushed past him. ‘Is it the butler’s night off or something?’

Nick shut the door and moved towards the fireplace. He opened a silver box that stood on a side table, selected a cigarette and lit it from a Queen Anne table-lighter.

‘If you could get to the point,’ he said patiently. ‘I’d been hoping for an early night.’

‘You’ve had that for a start. Superintendent Grant wants you down at Headquarters. Seems he has a use for your valuable services.’ Brady walked across to the telephone which was off the hook and replaced it. ‘No wonder I couldn’t get a bloody answer.’ He swung round angrily. ‘I’ve been trying to ring you for the past half hour.’

‘You’re breaking my heart.’ Miller ran a hand over his chin. ‘Anyway, no sense in you hanging around. I’ll see you down there. I’ll use my own car.’

‘Which one, the Rolls?’ As Nick moved past him, Brady grabbed his arm. ‘The old man said on the double.’

‘Then he’ll have to wait,’ Nick said calmly. ‘I’m going to have a shower then a shave, because I need them. You can tell him I’ll be there in half an hour.’

With surprising ease he pulled himself free and turned away again and all Brady’s anger and frustration flooded out of him in a torrent of rage. He pulled Nick round and gave him a violent shove.

‘Just who in the hell do you think you are? You jump up out of nowhere after only five years in the force with your bloody degree and your fancy cars, write your way through an examination and they make you a sergeant. Christ, in that rig-out you look more like a third-rate whoremaster.’